Means for destroying air-craft.



J. A. STEINMETZ. MBANSIOB DESTROYING AIR CRAFT. APPLICATION FILED MAY19, 1913.

1,092,760. I Pdtented Apr. 7, 19M

ATES PA FFIGE.

JosEPH A. STEINMETZ, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEANS FOR DESTROYING- AIR-CRAFT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 7', 1914- Application filed May 19, 1913. Serial No.768,515.

and State of Pennsylvania, have invented.

certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Destroying Air-Graft,of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying drawmg.

This invention relates to ofl'ensive operations against air craft andits object is to provide for the destruction of an airship by anotherair shi which itself incurs little risk or injury. Treferably, theattacking air ship is an aeroplane, since this type of airship iscapable of quickly changing its direction athigh speed and of'rising orfalling at the will of the operator.

The invention involves lowering bombs to a suitable distance fromaircraft in flight, by means of a wire or other flexible connection, andproviding the upper side or end of each bomb with contact devicesadapted to cause an explosion when the bomb is drawn upwardly bydeflection of its supporting wire through its meeting an airship. Suchdeflection must occur whenever there is contact between the laterallymoving, pendant wire and an airship, except only in the highlyimprobable case where the wire and the attacked airship are moving inthe same direction at substantially the same speed, when explosion canbe caused by manually pulling the wire. 1

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representationof an aeroplane provided with my devices and attackmg an airship farbelow. Fig. 2 represents a reel carried by the attacking craft andsupporting the bomb at some distance below the craft attacked.

In these figures, A represents an aeroplane provided with a reel B fromwhich abomb C is suspended by a flexible connection '1), which may bepiano wire, and E an airship, shown in this instance as a diriglbleballoon in a plane between the planes of the aeroplane and bomb.Deflection of the wire by the airship, whether from its own motion orthat of the wire, or both, causes slipping of the wire at the point ofcontact and brings the bomb quickly against airship, and the bomb beingprovided above with a suitable contact device, then explodes. It ispreferably charged with a high explosive in quantity sufficient toinsure disaster to the airship without injury to the aeroplane which isfar above. The reel is controlled by the aviator on the aeroplane andmay be of any suitable known type, such, if desired, as to secure veryrapid winding and unwinding, and the bombhas its lower part the heavierso that nfalling freely the contact device may be uppermost and thus notreceive the shock of I direct impact when the bomb strikes the earth.

' In attack, the bomb-carrying machine ascends to a considerabledistance above the plane of the attacked craft' and lowers its bomb to apoint below that plane, the distance-below not being very material, andthen moves in such path as .to cause lateral contact of the wire and theattacked object. The aeroplane, or any number of them, may moveat suchdistance apart or in such paths that neither endangers the other, andobviously -no large and comparatively slow turning craft could longescape disastrous contact'with one of the wires, while smaller craft ofany type would find it extremely diflicult to avoid destruction. Thedevices may be employed by night or day, although in'daylight the wireis not usually visible at any considerable distance and the bomb itselfwhich may be small, weighing but a fewpounds, is not readily detected bythe' eye, For attack, aeroplanes have very clecided advantages in thattheir evolutions may be rapid and their speed in any direction may behigh whatever the direction of ordinary air currents. A fleet of suchcraft may effectually defend a city, for example, and may also make theconveyance and landing of'any considerable hostileforce out of thequestion.

The reel should carry a surplus of Wire and a reserve supply of bombsshould be at hand so that in case it is. desired another bomb mayquickly replace one'exploded or lost, and obviously the-ordinary contactdevice-may be replaced by other means for securing explosion at theproper instant.

If desired, the reel may be operated at high speed by using the'motivepower of the engine which drives the aeroplane.

What I claim is:

r 1. For destroying air-craft when the destroyer is in free flight, thecombination with a flying machine, of a bomb far below said machine,suspended freely therefrom by a readily flexed connection, and providedwith a contact device in position to cause exploon its uppermost sidewith a contact device sion of the bomb when the latter is drawn securedto the lower 'end of the wire, to be vertically upward against the saidair-craft drawn upwardly into contact with any body which deflects thatportion of the connection causing lateral deflection of the wire between15 5 between said machine and bomb by relative, the bomb and reel.

lateral inovementrof the connection and air- In testimony whereof IafiiX my signature craft. in presence of two witnesses.

2. The combination with an aeroplane JOSEPH A. STEINMETZ. provided witha suitable reel controllable by Witnesses: 10 the aviator, of afiexiblewire or the like de- ANsoN B. EVANS,

pending from said reel, and a bomb provided ERNEST H. MANCKE.

